Disruptions in telecom services reported as Tawjihi results released

AMMAN — Several mobile phone users on Sunday complained of repeated disruptions to phone calls and slow access to the Internet following the announcement of the Tawjihi results.

Mobile users interviewed by The Jordan Times said telecom services were affected by the announcement, as thousands of students, their parents and relatives were using all possible means to get the results of the General Secondary Certificate Examination (Tawjihi).

“It was annoying. I tried to call my cousin several times to congratulate him on his success in the Tawjihi. This is frustrating and it happens every year,” Mohammad Ali, a resident of the Jubeiha area in Amman, told The Jordan Times.

Sahar Elhaj Abed, a teacher, encountered similar problems.

“I was unable to use Whatsapp to communicate with relatives for more than one hour. It was very difficult to get a connection to the Third Generation network,” she said in a phone interview.

According to official figures by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), mobile penetration in Jordan reached 157 per cent by the end of March of this year with about 10.4 million subscriptions.

Internet penetration reached 73 per cent with more than 5.3 million users.

Complaints lodged by users of telecom services in the country rose by 36 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, according to official figures.

The TRC received 2,155 complaints on mobile, fixed line and Internet services in 2013 compared with 1,580 complaints in 2012, according to a recent report.

Of the total complaints in 2013, some 1,060 were related to mobile services, 122 to fixed line services and 966 to Internet services.